STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES AS ANALYTICAL TOOLS IN THE STUDY AND RESEARCH OF FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY

Students of food science and technology often do not know the usefulness of statistical techniques in this field, and in particular, in food safety and quality. However, statistics can be play a decisive role in quantifying effects, controlling processes, forecasting stability parameters, measuring risks, deciding optimal markers, and interpreting evidences related to food safety and quality. Nowadays, statistical experimental design and analysis is an indispensable tool for researchers and professionals who develop new process and safe food products with high quality. Students, researchers and professionals have to be able to know relevant statistical techniques and their potential usefulness. They also have to be able to apply specific statistical analyses regarding the objective of the study or investigation and to interpret results derived from statistical analyses. Principles, objectives, scope and limitations of experimental designs, particularly factorial designs in food safety and quality, are discussed in the paper. Objectives and scope of the most applied univariate statistical techniques, such as analysis of variance and simple linear regression are also discussed. Application of some multivariate analysis such as factor, discriminant and cluster analysis, and non-linear models such as neural networks for some purposes are also included.

The aim of this paper is to provide students, researchers and professionals with a general view for the potential usefulness of statistical techniques in food safety and quality studies. The application of different univariate and multivariate statistical techniques is discussed by means of actual examples.